NOW PLAYING

Blast kills Iraqi soldiers

Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed and six were injured in a roadside bomb attack in northern Iraq.

15 Sep 2010 10:50 GMT

Mosul has been the scene of increasing attacks against Iraqi police and army patrols [EPA]

Nine Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The soldiers were returning home from duty.

The blast left six people wounded, including five soldiers, police and army sources said on Wednesday.

Mosul, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, and surrounding Nineveh province remain one of the most volatile areas of Iraq, even as violence in the rest of the country waned after peaking in 2006 and 2007 during a brutal sectarian war.

Violence appears to have risen again in recent months, with July and August recording two of the highest monthly deaths since 2008, according to Iraqi figures.

Fighters have launched steady attacks on Iraqi police and troops in recent weeks, while the US military 'formally ended combat operations in August,' seven and a half years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. US troops have lost 4400 soldiers in a addition to thousands of injured army personnel.